ECCLESIASTICUS
263
ECCLESIASTICUS
be regarded as finallj' out of court. On the other
hand, of the Gothic architecture of the thirteenth cen-
tury, as exemplified in the great cathedrals of North-
ern France and of Cologne, it may be quite fearlessly
asserted: (1) that every single principle of construction
employed therein was the outcome of centuries of
practical experience, in the form of successive and pro-
gressive attempts to solve the problems of church
vaulting; (2) that the great loftiness of these buildings
was not primarily due (as has been sometimes sug-
gested) to any mere Emporstreben, or " upward-soar-
ing" propensity, but was simply the aggregate result
of giving to the windows of the aisles and of the clere-
storya height in suitable proportion to their width, and
to the triforium a height sufficient to allow of the abut-
ment of the aisle roof; and (3) that every subsequent
attempt to modify, in any substantial particular, this
perfected Gothic style, was of its natin-e retrogressive
and decadent, as miglit be illustrateil from tlie English
Perpendicular and the Italian and Spanisli varieties
of Gothic architecture. Xeverthele.ss it must be ad-
mitted that thirteenth-century Gothic, though perfect
of its kind, has its limitations, the most serious of
which — in relation to motlern needs — is the necessarily
restricted width of the nave. When the architect of
the Milan cathedral attempted to improve on his
French predecessors by exceeding their maximum
width of fifty feet, and to construct a Gothic building
with a nave measuring sixty feet across, it was found
impossible, as the building proceeded, to carry out the
original design without incurring the almost certain
risk of a collapse, and hence it was necessary to de-
press the clerestory to its present stunted proportions.
Now under modern conditions of life, especially in the
case of a cathedral of first-class importance, a nave of
far greater width is by all means desirable; and in
order to secure this greater width it is necessary either
to fall back on the unsatisfactory compromise of Ital-
ian or Spanish Gothic, as illustrated in the cathedrals
of Milan, Florence, or Gerona, or else to adopt the
principle of the round arch, combined, by preference,
with domical vaulting. This, as everyone knows, is
what Mr. Bentley has done, with altogether conspicu-
ous success, in the case of the Westminster Cathedral.
Of the design of this noble edifice it is impossible to
speak here. But it may be worth while to indicate
one main reason for the choice of the Byzantine rather
than the neo-classic or Renaissance treatment of the
round-arch system. The principal difference between
the two is this: that, whereas the neo-classical style, by
its use of pilasters, treats every pier as though it were
a cluster of huge, flat-faced columns, the Byzantine
boldly distinguishes between piers and columns, and
employs the latter exclusively for the purposes which
monolithic shafts are suited to fulfil, for instance the
support of a gallery; while the piers in a Byzantine
building make no pretence of being other than what
they are, viz., the main supports of the vaulting. The
Byzantine method of construction, as employed at
Westminster, has the further advantage that it brings
within the building the whole of the spaces between
the buttresses, thereby at the same time increasing the
interior dimensions and avoiding the awkward ap-
pearance of ponderous external supports. Nor is the
Byzantine style of architecture suitable for a great
cathedral alone; and one may venture to hope that the
great experiment which has been tried at Westminster
will be fruitful of results in the future development of
ecclesiastical architecture.
Bond, English Gothic Architeclvre (London, 1905): G. B Brow.v, From Schola to Cathedral (London. 1886); Burck- HARDT. Gesch. der Renaissance in Italien (Stuttgart, 1878); Cattaneo. Architecture in Italy, tr. (London, 1896); Choisy. Histoire d' Architecture (2 vols.. Paris, 1899); Idem, L'Art de baiir Chez les Romains (Paris, 187.3); Idem, L'Art de butir chez les Byzantins (Paris, 1883); Clausse, Basiliguea et mosaiques chrcticnnes (Paris, 1893); Crostarosa. Le Basiliche di Roma (Rome. 1892); Dartein, L Architecture Lombarde (Pari.s, 1,S65- 82); Dehiu aj.'d von Bezold, Die kirchliche Baukunst des
Abendlandes (Stuttgart, 1S92-1901); Fergdsson, History of
Architecture, ed. A.. Spiers (3rd ed.. London, 1893), vols. I and II;
VON GEyMiLLER, Les projets primilifs pour la basilique de S.
Pierre a Rome (Paris and Vienna, 1875) ; Hubsch, Die altchristl.
Kirchen (1858-63); Isabelle, Les edifices circulaires et les
dimes (Paris, 1855); H. G. Kmght, The Ecclesiastical Architec-
ture of Italy (London, 1S42--14 ) ; F. X. Kracs, Gesch. der christl.
Kunst (Freiburg im Br.. 1896—); S. Kreuser, Christlicher
Kirchenbau (Ratisbon, 1880); S. Lange, Haus u. Halle (1885);
Lethaby and SwAlNsoN, Santa Sophia (London. 18941; W
Longman. St. Paul's Cathedral (London, 1873); C. H. Moore,
Development and Character of Gothic Architecture (2nd ed.. New
^ork, 1899); von Quast, Die altchristl. Bauwerke v. Ravenna
(Berlin, 1842); Rfvoil, U Architecture romane du midi de
la France (Paris, 1866-741; W. Salzenbehg. Die altchristl.
Baudenkmaler v. Km,^l„„ii„nprl (Berlin, 1891); Schulz and
Barnsley, The M. • >' Luke at Sliris (London, 1901);
-)/' 1 '"(ure (London, 1879), 2 vols.;
'It '■ • ■■ ■ 1 .Wure (London, 1881); F. M.
^'"'.^ •■/ 1 ■■■'■nf Development (London,
- / '7-7 and West (London,
' ■ Architecture (London,
. ' J.-.--/!iline en France (Paris,
- .v, ..../.,,, lU- V architecture (Paris,
La Syrie Cenlrale (Paris, 1865-
Die Anfange Christ. Architeklur (1902).
Herbert Lucas.
Ecclesiasticus (ablirev. Ecclus.), the longest of the dciitcriicanunical liooks of Holy Writ, and the last of thr Sapiential writings in the Vulgate of the Old Testament.
I. Title.— The usual title of the book in Greek MSS. and Fathers is 2o0ia 'It/itoD vloC Seipdx, " the Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach", or simply 2o0(a Seipd^ " the Wisdom of Sirach ". It is manifestly connected with, and possibly derived from, the following sub- scription which appears at the end of recently-discov- ered Hebrew fragments of Ecclesiasticus: "'Wisdom [HtJkhmd] of Simeon, the son of YeshiU, the son of Eleazar, the son of Sira". Indeed, its full form would naturally lead one to regard it as a direct rendering of
1906—); R. P. Spiers. .
1905); Texier and Pria
1864); Verneilh, L'Ar,.
1851); VloLLET-LE-Dur.
1858-68); C.-J.-M. de Vo
77); Witting
the Hebrew heading: Hokhmdth Yeshua bin S'trd' ,
were it not that St. Jerome, in his prologue to the Sol-
omonic writings, states that the Hebrew title of Ec-
clesiasticus was "Mi'shle" {Parabola') of Jesus of Si-
rach. Perhaps in the original Hebrew the book bore
different titles at different times: in point of fact, the
simple name Hdkhmd. "Wisdom", is applied to it in
the Talmiid, while Rabbinic writers commonly quote
Ecclesiasticus as Ben Sira. Among the other Greek
names which are given to Ecclesiasticus in patri.stic
literature, may be mentioned the simple title of 2o0/o,
"Wisdom", and the honorary designation v Tracdperos
<ro<pla, "all-virtuous Wisdom".
As might well be expected, Latin WTiters have ap- plied to Ecclesiasticus titles which are derived from its Greek names, such as "Sapientia Sirach" (Rufinus); " Jesu, filii Sirach" (Junilius), "Sapientia Jesu" (Co- dex Claromontanus) ; " Liber Sapientiae " (Roman Mis- sal). _ It can hardly be doubted, however, that the heading " Parabote Salomonis ", which is prefixed at times in the Roman Breviary to sections from Ecclesi- asticus, is to be traced back to the Hebrew title spoken of by St. Jerome in his prologue to the Solomonic writings. Be this as it may, the book is most com- monly designated in the Latin Church as " Ecclesiasti- cus", itself a Greek word with a Latin ending. This last title — not to be confounded with " Ecclesiastes" (Eccl.) — is the one used by the Council of Trent in its solemn decree concerning the books to be regarded as sacred and canonical. It points out the very special esteem in which this didactic work was formerly held for the purpose of general reading and instruction in church meetings: this book alone, of all the deutero- canonical WTitings, which are also called Ecclesiastical by Rufinus, has preserved by way of pre-eminence the name of Ecclesiasticus (Liber), that is " a church read- ing-book".
II. Contents.— The Book of Ecclesiasticus is pre- ceded by a prologue which professes to be the work of the Greek translator of the original Hebrew and the genu- ineness of which is undoubted. In this preface to his translation, the writer describes, among other things.
